Printing systems that deflect drops using a gas flow are known, see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,068,241, issued to Yamada, on Jan. 10, 1978.
In printing systems that use gas flow to deflect drops, it is critical to provide a laminar flow of gas in the drop deflection zone so that drop deflection occurs in a predictable manner. Drop deflection or divergence can be adversely affected when turbulence is present in, for example, the interaction area of the drops and the gas flow force. Turbulent gas flow may increase or decrease the angle of drop deflection or divergence for both printed and non-printed drop which may lead to reduced drop placement accuracy, image defects, and poor print quality.
Accordingly, a need exists to reduce turbulent gas flow in printing systems that use gas flow to deflect drops.